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UK hosts All East Intercollegiate Livestock Judging Contest

The University of Kentucky recently hosted collegiate livestock judging teams from 11 different states for the All East Intercollegiate Livestock Judging Contest at the Scott County Fairgrounds.

The four-day competition is an annual event in which all colleges and universities with livestock judging teams east of the Mississippi River and the University of Minnesota were invited to attend. James Jackson, UK extension livestock professor and chair of the contest’s committee said the event changes location each year as participating schools take turns hosting. UK likely will not host the event again for another 20 years.

This year, participating universities included Michigan State University, The Pennsylvania State University, Purdue University, The Ohio State University, University of Arkansas, University of Illinois, University of Kentucky, University of Minnesota, University of Tennessee, Virginia Tech and West Virginia University.

Students evaluated sheep, swine and cattle in categories including market animal evaluation, animal selection, livestock judging and oral reasoning during the three-day event. These contests required students to retain knowledge, perform calculations, make decisions and logically defend those decisions to a judge. Individual and team winners were recognized Sunday during an awards banquet at the Holiday Day Inn North in Lexington.

Fran Korthaus, coach of the UK livestock judging team, said students will be able to apply skills they learn in livestock judging throughout their lives.

“It’s not just something you learn and then you forget it, because a lot of these kids are from livestock backgrounds,” she said. “They’re going to go out and use these skills when they go raise their own cattle, sheep and swine.”

The UK livestock judging team will compete in several competitions in the fall and finish the season in November at the North American International Livestock Exposition in Louisville.